Best Watering Hole in Gruene, Texas

Precariously clinging to a bluff overlooking the Guadalupe River is the second largest restaurant in Texas. It’s so big in fact, I had to ask one of the servers to escort me on a tour of the grounds.

It’s called The Gristmill and seats a whopping 1000 people and all comfortably in multilevel dining rooms, patio decks and one tree-laden beer garden.

The historic 1922 cotton gin was redesigned in 1977 as a restaurant but just enough to maintain that rustic brick boiler feel.

The top floor inside the mill used to house hay but now caters to a couple tables, a cubby-hole size bathroom and a birds-eye view of a 3-story native stone fireplace. Surrounded by wooden roof rafters and a slimming staircase, it’s definitely the coziest.

Yes, this is an obligatory tourist stop when visiting Gruene but considering Hollywood celebs Robert Duvall, Lou Diamond Phillips and Dan Rather dine here, expect the cuisine to be just as fabulous as the location.

One Response

Best restaurant ever!!! When staying in nearby Canyon Lake, we went to Gruene 3-4 times in the one week. Ate at the Gristmill twice. Wished we had eaten there every day. Good food, fantastic atmosphere, great little town! And now I desperately want to go back!

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